Shadows of the Lost
by Luna Sapphire Potter
Summary: It was all just a story when the girl wrote it, but when Elise finds out its affecting her friends, its a little late to take it back. Through everything she tries to guide the little gang as they set sail to to the World of the Lost, in a city inhabited by old villains from various worlds and where the darkness they fight seems to originate in hope to save their parents.


**This is the first chapter of a YGO Next Gen story, crossover with a different setted Descendants and Ever After High mix, based on the Twilight Manor concept from Jumpers. Might have references to Wreck-It Ralph, Final Fantasy XII, Harry Potter and The Kane Chronicles. Takes place after the Hogwarts Crossover Series.**

 **I own none of the Fandoms, only the plot and the Next Gen characters.**

* * *

 **Kisara**

I hated camping, especially everything about sleeping while there, and this was one of those nights that made sure to remind me why. I did believe in magic, but these silly dreamcatchers they made us use had none of it and did not take away the nightmares. Sometimes I wished to be able not to dream at all.

That particular night there was a Blue-Eyes White Dragon in my dream, trapped in a cage too small for him. Shadows of people passed by, but none of them seemed to pay any attention to him. Not far away, another much smaller dragon seemed to be trying to reach him, but she seemed to strike an invisible barrier every time she approached. I had now idea how I was sure it was a female, her roars powerful for a baby dragon, but they did not seem to have any power over the shadows and sounded sad and at the same time furious, and her ice beams (which was strange to a Blue-Eyes, but that was just a dream, anyway), freezing the invisible barrier before they disappeared.

I took a time to notice the two figures standing by my sides. The one at my right had the form of an angel, but its robes were white from the hood that covered its head and gradually became black until reaching the edge, which almost covered a pair of sneakers with the same color pattern, its wings also followed the scheme. In his hands, the figure carried a flame, which also flickered between white and black and did not look hot enough to burn it. The only thing I could tell about this strange angel was that it was taller than me and had pale skin.

The other figure I could only guess as being my closest friend, Sora. The blonde, black and crimson pointed hair was unmistakable but still, being it a dream and all, gave me a few options and his violet eyes only told me it wasn't his cousin, Yami. But the clothes he was wearing made him look like a modern prince, slight Sugar Rush styled clothes like an Island Racer and a golden duel disk on his arm, he did not look anything like the Sora I knew. The little prince turned to me and said in an urgent tone:

"Our time is running out, Ki."

As if just waiting for an order, the winged figure separated the two flames, now white in his right hand, black in his left, and blew the latter as if extinguishing a candle. The flame really went away, that's when I finally woke up. The cabin looked cold and gloomy despite the light coming through the windows and the little dragon's roars still seemed to echo in my ears. I had the feeling something bad was about to happen and I was almost sure that the figure dressed as an angel in my dream, by the color pattern, was Rafael Bakura.

No one knew what was the problem with Rafael but I imagined it had something to do with the _why_ he was older than the rest of us, a little too old considering his parents were around the same age as most others. My aunt called it "stupid island residual magic", but his own magical field was somewhat tied to the darkness. Though he rejected the idea of any darkness in himself, he admitted that his powers had a touch of it and even though he refused to use these powers most of the time, he used to dress in a black and white pattern. I tried to banish those thoughts to the deeper parts of my mind, trying to focus only on the fact that I would be returning home after almost the entire summer at Crystal Falls Camp.

Crystal Falls wasn't a simple camp, we had common camp activities and all, but it was also a magical school of sorts, be it for the children with clashing or confusing hybrid powers, like that girl, half demigoddess, half super-heroine, or my little cousin, Madelaine; the ones with unknown powers, like Rafael; or simply the ones who didn't have access to a real school or particular mentor, or simply had a preference for summer classes instead of skipping normal school for an usually boarding one, like myself. It also worked as a kind of orphanage for the homeless magical children, to prevent the trouble they usually caused at the non-magical system.

The children started at the camp at seven, left at eighteen, and were separated into groups every two years. Groups from seven to twelve began camp a week later and went on their excursion this last week, after the others had gone home, while groups from thirteen to sixteen went on their own journey a week before the younger ones, to go home a week before them. Only seventeen and eighteen children stayed at the camp all the time.

We slept in cabins that could be considered luxury for a camp. My group's cabin was a solid wood construction that had been painted a color that must have been pink a long time ago and no one had bothered to repaint, but everything else was in perfect condition. The upstairs room was a bit small for twelve girls and our counselor but we had a common area which accommodated everyone comfortably but with little personal space for each and a private bathroom rather than split one with the whole camp. Each cabin was built on the same model, but the painting and internal organization, or at least the general decision of everything, was the responsibility of the campers themselves, so they had become very different over the years. The girls tried to reorganize ours but thought better to let it be than to try something they kept disagreeing upon.

I was the only girl at our cabin that morning and there were few other people in the rest of the camp, even so, I made sure to lock the place to get dressed. When I was done, I looked at my image in the mirror and was happy to see the girl who looked back at me didn't seem the slightest tired or disturbed by the dreams interrupting her sleep, it just would make them worry and I had many reasons to hate when they did worry.

Kaiba wasn't usually the first name to come to people's mind by just looking at me. Dark hair, tanned skin, I did look much more like my mother and it was somewhat satisfying, being the daughter of such a top duelist and CEO of a big company like Kaibacorp gave me many advantages, but when I was with my friends or alone, I just wanted a bit of normality to my life. In the mirror, only my cold, ice-blue eyes gave away who I was, not that many people took noticed of the fact they looked exactly like my father's.

Ice ... Like the little Blue-Eyes in my dream... No! I should not think about it! But it was hard to forget the white dragons when I, like my father, was so attached to them. That morning I had unconsciously chosen a blue-white dress that had a silver dragon-like embroidery around the body and the pendant of my necklace was shaped like a dragon's head with two sapphires forming the eyes. The dress had been a birthday gift from Sora and his parents as the boy said he had to buy it to me when he saw the dress and I told him he knew me better than my own cousins, maybe aside from Madeline. The pendant was a gift from my father and the only piece of jewelry I allowed myself to wear on a daily basis. I had always prided myself on my look and style, but at that moment it was frustrating!

"Hey, Kaiba!" A voice called me as the door opened. I would have been surprised for someone walking into a place supposedly locked if I didn't recognize the voice. Standing in the doorway was a blond girl with fair skin and violet eyes, she had reformed the camp's white T-shirt, turning it into a tank top, and wore a short green skirt over tight purple shorts and a pair of purple walking boots. "I know how much you love yourself, but please, share the mirror!" She protested, good-humored, nudged me slightly to get some space and began to touch the makeup, I rolled my eyes.

Crystal Valentine-Wheeler was the only person I knew who hated being trapped in that camp as much as I did, even though she was strong, independent, and determined, she couldn't bear the arrogant girls with whom we were obliged to live.

Even my group having only nine to ten years old children, most of them were quick to judge by two criteria: Your magical origins and how powerful you were and your performance at the camp games and I did not fit any of these criteria. Blood of the Pharaohs, experience in Combat Magic, and a reasonable basketball skill, not to count Duel Monsters and chess, none of it impressed people in that particular group, not that I cared, but made most of my colleagues almost unbearable and Crystal had similar issues. Luckily they mostly left us alone. Literally alone, if it wasn't for our group of friends across all camp.

I wasn't fragile at all but had my preferences that did not include becoming a sportswoman. Maybe after I was thirteen, when we started participating in the War Games, it would be easier. I was a great swordswoman and perfect strategist and it impressed the groups from that age up.

Even through she was only twelve, Crystal always had an eye for the handsome boys at the camp, yet she wasn't one who melted easily, she liked to watch them from afar and make sure they noticed her back, but I almost felt sorry for the deluded who tried to get closer. Almost.

"Why aren't you at your own cabin, Valentine? And do you really need this much makeup at a camp?" One or other discussion were almost a part of our morning ritual, almost every day of the summers of the last four years. Of course in the first years they were more than friendly teasing, but we'd learned to get along and even become friends. Crystal usually said that kind of attitude did not fit either side of my family, and I usually said it was her influence. Or maybe it was my cousins, but I never told her that.

"Your cousin and mirrors tend to be a dangerous combination and you never know who might be looking." She answered. The seventeen to eighteen years old group was the only one left in the camp, besides us and some troublemakers in the groups from seven to twelve, it was probably the older boys she referred to. I just thought it was ridiculous for the older boys to behave the way they did. "You should try it, too, Kissy. Maybe you can catch a catfish? The other groups have a few cute ones." Crystal threatened me with her lipstick, but I got out of the way.

"I don't need a boyfriend, let alone at ten!" I still did not understand why they attracted her so much and why she would choose to attract them just for fun. Where was the fun in it at all? I started to leave the cabin, but I could almost feel the grin which accompanied her next words.

"What about Sora?" I froze for a moment. "Do you really think I don't know you have a crush on him? Not that I can blame you, he's really cute, isn't him? Wait! Or was it Yami? I can barely take them apart."

And I could practically feel myself blushing, then I mentally scolded myself for such an attitude, it took me another second to regain my composure before turning back to look at her.

"We are just friends, but you barely can notice the difference, can you?" I protested. I couldn't see how to consider a person who was in my house practically every Christmas, New Year's eve, and other holidays in which the family would gather together, as anything but part of that same family, even though we weren't actually blood-related. I was simply closer to Sora than to most of the others - including a few of my own cousins - because everything did seem to be made easier with him. The boy was easy to smile, easy to accept and forgive, easy to understand, he didn't make a lot of questions, wasn't prone to argue, with him there were no lies and little secrets, there was only the peace, the friends, the games and the happiness... until the others came up with their little, not so good ideas and turned everything into chaos. But I wasn't going to let all that teasing go blank, looking back, I folded my arms and said with a smirk: "But you're somebody to talk, are you not, Valentine? What about my cousin? And don't say he's just one more of your little games, you think I can't see the difference in your eyes when he is around?"

When Namu was around she just couldn't take her eyes away from him, except when he looked back at her. Her perfect self-control was completely destroyed when it happened and she made everything she could to keep a distance between them. In that aspect, she surely wasn't anything like her mother.

It was her turn to blush and my smile turned into one of satisfaction. Crystal had to do better than that if she wanted to get the better of the argument. She opened her mouth to respond but I was faster.

"Maybe I should tell him. You might get lucky. But I'm sure his sister will not be very pleased..."

"You wouldn't dare!" I could feel a certain tremor in her voice, I had hit it.

"No?" I raised an eyebrow at her, before turning back and leaving the cabin.

"You're cruel like your father, Kissy, you know that?" I could still hear her shouting when I was already outside. I just laughed, having definitely won the argument one more time and went down for breakfast.

Most of the other campers of our group had gone on a last week trip, so it was only Sora and our counselors at the table, eating. The boy was looking so ordinary - except for the hair that made him unable to blend, even in a rock show - so childlike and simple, in a set of jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers in white, blue and black, that it seemed impossible for him and the little prince in my dreams to be the same person.

"Good Morning!" He greeted happily as soon as he saw me.

I just replied with a brief nod, not in the mood to talk and didn't even try to smile back, I knew it would make my situation obvious. But he frowned for a brief second and I thought he would ask, but he didn't. Crystal finally came back without saying a word and sat with us at our group's table, the counselors pretended not to see. Sora slipped a piece of paper to his friend and she didn't seem happy with the news. I had an idea of why: Sora had just told her about our little challenge and she hesitated in accepting and knew better than refusing.

Last Christmas my aunt had organized a small family tournament - family here including the closer friends - between the children and we had faced each other in the finals, ending in a surprising draw. The small prize had been divided and the final duel had been turned into a tag duel, both of us against our fathers, we actually lost and that was obvious, but we also came to realize we formed a great team and not just in duels. From that day on, we had grown closer, gradually creating bonds of friendship, and began to share the camp study programs, we also began to challenge the rest of the "family" into tag duels once in a while. Few of them were at our level as a team and we liked to take them by surprise and rarely played against the same team twice, and this time our choices had been little.

"Really, Kissy?" She protested, using the nickname she knew I hated just to annoy me, but I ignored her. "Of all the people you could have chosen, did it need to be your crazy cousin?"

In the past our families had varied among friends, enemies, and rivals, everything had changed little by little and all that mess had become a sort of confuse fragmented unity, they had gotten rid of their own shadows, left the past aside and moved on. But there were little pieces of the ancient powers, especially the powers of the Zodiac which haunted the little zodiac stars for several years and consequently affected the others around them which, unfortunately, resumed most of our families. I was particularly grateful to have so little of it.

But unlike what I believed about Rafael and his mixed, deeper, uncontrollable powers, Crystal seemed to believe the worst came from my cousin, Samira, who, unlike the boy, wasn't afraid of the little shadow powers she inherited from her mother's curse. The girl had a rebellious and adventurous spirit, crazy and dangerous ideas, and Crystal did not trust her own line of self-control. Not that the rest of us did.

"Well, we want a new challenge, a new team, so I decided to take the risk," I explained calmly, filling up a glass of juice, while Sora passed her another piece of paper.

He avoided her gaze by taking a long sip of his milk, an attitude that actually masked a wicked smile. If someone like him had one of these "not fitting" traits, it was his sense of humor. He finally stared at her, dropping the glass and Crystal handed me the paper. _I actually suggested her to call Rafa to be your partner._ Sora had written. "Or rather, to be Sammy's partner _."_ He added, trying to look innocent, which wouldn't be any hard if we didn't know him better.

"I'm not going to duel with Rafael!" I answered coolly. "Especially in a tag team with Samira, I've already said that if you want to sign your death warrant earlier you can go ahead and do it, Sora, as long as you leave me out of your suicide plans."

"Well, I'm not going to duel along with Samira." Crystal retorted in the same tone. "She has a pretty dangerous idea of fun, which I'd rather not take a chance with," she explained.

It was true, just last week she had the good hearted idea of releasing all of the magical creatures from the biology laboratory, which had gone rampage and destroyed the place before the Gold-Eared Slender Monkeys decided to attack the rest of the camp. No one could prove who was the responsible for the chaos, so everyone around the laboratory at the moment were barred from the trip and tasked with the cleaning duty, that was exactly why the three of us and my cousins - who had gone to Ra-knows-where at the moment - were trapped here.

We'd left the cleaning for the truly responsible, but they managed to create more problems than to solve then, as Samira tried to bribe Sora into helping, except I'd been faster, thought she would use such tactics and convinced him not to and then her brother tried to clean the laboratory using magic, which resulted into the three of us having to help the two out of a fire. Laughing out of the situation, Namu swore he didn't know what had gone wrong and offered to try the spell one more time, tired from the chaos, we actually helped them fixing and cleaning everything and even capturing the creatures the girl let out.

Right now I felt stupid for doing so because I was sure my cousin caused the fire on purpose to get our help. On the other hand, helping was a good idea, because they allowed us to go home a few days early.

Not that they were naughty children, it was all done out of curiosity or on the best of the intentions, except it usually didn't work out right. Of course, I wasn't even going to start talking about Halloween and April Fools pranks, New Year's fireworks, Christmas games, and camp stories. That same behavior sometimes made things more fun, interesting, or exciting, every once in a while all at once, like movie nights, slumber parties and snowball wars, even some school parties, which generally ranged between boring and irritating, making them enjoyable even to me sometimes.

"It's just a duel _."_ Sora protested. "A game is not capable of hurting anyone, with or without residual island magic _."_

"Rafael's magic does not come from the Islands," Crystal muttered. None of us knew what his powers truly were, it wasn't wizarding magic, not the one Egyptian magicians used and surely more than only residues of his mother's curse, I didn't really want to find out if he could or not cause any harm from a game, it didn't matter, better for me to be safe than sorry. "But okay, I'm giving Sammy a chance, one chance, because you're my friend and I trust you, but only if Ki promises that she'll duel against Rafa and Namu next time."

In a way, it was a fair deal, though I wasn't forced to like the idea. Namu and Samira were twins, the same age and camp group as Crystal. If there was any difference between the two, on one hand, the boy could be considered the worst choice of the pair, since he had less of his mother's royal nature - not that she showed much of it - which seemed to hold his sister back sometimes, for the other side he could be considered the safest of the two, for he was more like his father, who had a much more controlled nature now.

"Only if you're my partner, Wheeler." I challenged her back. I knew she would never leave me alone if I backed down, but I was not going to take any chances on my own. Crystal would have no right to say anything if she also refused.

"Girls!" Kairi called our attention before Crystal could respond. "Can't you leave this argument for after breakfast, please!"

"After breakfast, we'll be too busy for that." We both laughed, which was clearly a shock to the counselors, perhaps because the two of us rarely agreed on something. Because after breakfast we had a lot to prepare before going back home.

"So the sooner you finish eating, the sooner you'll be back home," Michael reminded us.

It was true. After the dream, the only thing I wanted was to get back home as soon as possible and have a good night of rest. It took me some time to pack my things after that, I hated carrying things around like that, but what choice I had? Then we had to find my cousins, who had inopportunely gone into the woods, jut to find out Namu had gone somewhere else before we got to them and it took us a while more to find him on the beach, surfing.

It was hard to be confined in a small place like the bus, especially when your companions weren't exactly helping, but I managed to survive the ride. The bus left us at the museum, which was far enough from home for me.

"Well, I'll see you guys later!" Crystal waved goodbye. "Remember the promise, Kissy!"

"I'll call you later to set a date and place." I nodded.

"We're going too, Sora. Are you coming, cousin?" Samira asked.

"Walk there, after everything we've been through because of you? No thanks." I just needed to call and my father would send someone to pick me up soon, or I could just call a taxi. They lived only a few streets from my house, but besides being tired, walking with a backpack and just the two of them for company did not sound like a good idea.

"See you later then!" Namu shrugged.

"Can't you just wait too?" Sora asked them, the twins just laughed. I worried about the two of them alone on the street, but there wasn't much I could do, arguing with them was often a waste of time. But they were my cousins, and deep down we were all part of the same fragmented unit, all the problems were left out when we needed each other and I needed some company at that moment. It was not right to persuade Sora to stay with me until someone came to get me just because a silly dream seemed to have shaken me. Then I scolded myself for allowing a dream to be stronger than my spirit. Anyway, it was not like I was going to tell it to any of them.

"Well, I guess somebody should supervise those two before they get involved in an accident. I'll call you later to arrange that duel, Sora."

"See you later then, Ki! Take care!"

"You too."

At that moment, we all seemed to believe the nightmare had settled, I was the only one who seemed to have the sensation - which I was trying to ignore - that everything was just beginning. I never wanted so much to be wrong.

I worried less and less every street closer to home. No more waking up at sunrise, no meaningless activities, being where there were people who could control my cousins a little, real meals and definitely no nightmares!

I only knew how wrong I was when I tried to sleep. Instead, I seemed to plunge into a cloak of darkness and when I opened my eyes I was in a hall surrounded by fog. Twelve figures sat on stone thrones, forming a circle around the edge and I was in the center, along with people who looked like Rafael, Sora - or maybe it was Yami, I couldn't see his eyes to know for sure - and Samira, except they all had wings. I did not understand what the people on the thrones said, their voices seemed static in my ears, but a man stood up, looking furious. Sora and Rafael exchanged nervous glances and Samira lowered her head, suddenly finding the designs on the floor very interesting, then the man turned to me and I could catch pat of his speech.

"...and you, Kisara Avalynn, failed on your Guardian duties and lost your protegee. Rafael will oversee the rescue as his second chance, the other three will be assigned to new duties as soon as possible. Aside from these duties, until you've proven yourselves worth, the four will be confined to this Island. Fail one more time, and you all will be exiled!"

A woman stood up and said something to the man, I couldn't understand her as well.

"The items will remain with their owners until further notice. Now you'll all wait at home and wait for your new mentors."

And the dream changed to what I thought to be the other Kisara's home, a kind of apartment I couldn't tell exactly in what island, maybe somewhere at the Digit's center. Contrary to what I would do, she didn't mind turning any lights on and little light came from a gap in one window's curtain, and in that light, as the girl let herself fall on a nearby couch, I could see the shadow of a person, I couldn't recognize the person, but saw he was smirking.

"Rough day, my dear?" The sly voice asked.

I woke up with a sharp pain through my chest. The room felt cold and narrow, opposite of what it truly was, making me consider, for a brief moment, to actually tell my parents. I never really dreamt while at home, when I did, I usually couldn't remember anything about it, but I knew my father would say the same thing I kept trying to tell myself: It was nothing but a bad dream. I was somewhat afraid of what my mother would say, through, but before I could make my mind, I was already drifting back to sleep and this time I finally had a dreamless rest.


End file.
